[FireDog]

The staff have been working long and hard with this rule revision. It is a full overhaul of the rules to fill in gaps that have popped up over time. This is generally how rules progress. Someone does something, staff need to figure a solution and new rule or policy, repeat again. In the end one ends up with more fleshed out rules.

We're now more or less done for this time, but this is where YOU come in, as a player. Since this is going to be us going through all the rules you will all have a say in this. This is important. If you have suggestions or ideas it is time to present them when this revision goes on. Decisions are final. We'll be going through the different types of rules one by one. The rules to go through are (so much work to do):

General Rules
Chat Rules
Forum Rules
Metagaming Rules
Powergaming Rules
Building Rules
IC Death Rules
Stealing Rules
Town/Guild/Clan/Etc Rules
In-Game and In-Character Policies
Activity Policies

A poll will be posted in each thread for simple replies if all you got to say is "okay". It will also work as deadline for each issue.

____________________________________________________________

SUGGESTION:

Building Rules

These are to be followed when building any structure on the map. Breaking the building rules may result in punishment and getting the structure torn down immediately, the materials returned unless they’re collected through rulebreak or at all questionable.

1. No building within a town unless town owner has given permission.
This permission has to be given ICly, not OOC. Building or in any way altering a town without permission can/may be seen as griefing, which is a serious rulebreak!

2. No major changes in the landscape without permission.
We want to preserve the map and its nature, not ruin it. If you need to make a major change in the landscape for your building, you need permission from staff. It also has to be within the boundaries of realism, no one can move a mountain to make room for a cottage. Staff approval is required for any excessively large homes, buildings or projects.

3. No building in protected areas or spawn without permission!
Protected areas are places that staffs consider one should not destroy for various reasons. If anything is to be modified or built there, the staff has to give permission both for the idea and the design. Protected areas are marked with a sign and Information can be found on the forum. This includes our spawn point, which is what all newcomers first see and it needs to look a certain way. The structures there are there for a reason, so don’t even think about touching them. Violating this rule is equal to griefing.

4. No OOC building without approval.
Structures not built in character, such as terraforming, natural formations, excessively large trees, even adding lore sites or dungeons to the map require approval first. We’re not entirely opposed to the idea of new items to spice up the map but we just need to know what it is, why and how it got there, and make sure it fits with the local lore.

[Spitfire333]

The only thing I'm seeing a possible issue with is Rule 1. The permission should be OOC, not IC. If I have a character who would do something regardless of whether or not the Town Owner agrees, I should be able to ask OOCly for the permission rather than ICly.

Just for an example, if there are two thief characters, and they somehow are able to dig out a tunnel between their houses in order to escape or get around inconspicuously, obviously they're not going to ask the character owning the town for permission. The owners of the thief characters would ask the owner of the character who owns the town.

I really hope that above paragraph makes sense and I don't sound like a monkey with a keyboard. XP

[Conradian]

Don't worry Spit, I both understand and agree with you.

[SentaiPink]

I agree as well, it should probably say "IC or OOC"

[cerberus23]

I think it should be a little bit more explained than simply "IC or OOC", because then people can simply skip around RP'ing with the Town Owner and just ask OOC, which I view as lazy and just wastes a chance for RP. Perhaps either include some examples for both, or put in a clause that makes the use of OOC asking needs to be situational.